Barcelona & its Surrounding Areas

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  • Duration

    8 days
  • Bookable From

    Year-round
  • Trip Style

    Privately Guided
  • Country

    Spain
  • Physical Rating

    Very Easy

Overview

Discover the beautiful architecture, culture, gastronomy, and nature of Barcelona and its surrounding areas on this privately-guided sustainable trip.

This trip allows you to visit one of the most popular cities in Spain, Barcelona, and also gives you the chance to explore its surroundings. Barcelona is much more than just a city, it lies within a beautiful region offering rural landscapes, vineyards, and mountains.

Highlights

  • Urban Art workshop in El Raval
  • Horse training experience
  • Hot air balloon flight
  • Visit and wine tasting in the Bages County area
  • Kayak and cycling in the Ebro Delta Natural Park
  • Sunset sailing experience in Barcelona

Barcelona is a popular destination for several reasons. Here are some of the main ones:

  1. Gaudi’s architecture: Barcelona is famous for its stunning architecture, especially the work of the modernist architect Antoni Gaudi. His creations, such as the Sagrada Familia, Park Guell, and Casa Batllo, are some of the most popular attractions in the city. You will see some of Gaudi’s impressive buildings on this trip.
  2. Culture and history: Barcelona has a rich cultural and historical heritage, with museums, galleries, and monuments showcasing its past. This trip includes traditional experiences that will help you get to know Spain’s culture on a meaningful level.
  3. Food and drink: Barcelona and Spain in general is a foodie’s paradise, with an abundance of local produce, fresh seafood, and delicious tapas. Its wine and cava are also famous, and the city is home to many excellent bars, cafes, and restaurants. Wine tasting in the Bages County area will be a special experience!

To make this trip to Barcelona more sustainable, this itinerary includes excursions away from the city and into the surrounding areas (comarcas) north of Barcelona, el Moianès, and Bages. On these visits, you will admire green rural spaces, vineyards, and the beautiful Montserrat mountain range. A hot air balloon ride, an art workshop, and a horse riding experience will provide unhindered enjoyment of Barcelona and its surroundings.

The trip will end in the Ebro Delta Natural Park, where you will discover its varieties of landscapes, as well as its flora and fauna. It will be a beautiful journey that will introduce you to the local life outside the big city.

Seasonal Notes

Spring (March to June) and fall (September to November) offer mild temperatures, fewer crowds, and lower prices. This is also a great time for outdoor activities such as hiking, visiting national parks, and enjoying festivals and events. If you like warm weather, the summer months (July and August) are ideal, with temperatures reaching up to 30°C in some parts of the country. However, these months can also be very crowded and expensive. To help curb over-tourism, we recommend avoiding the peak summer months if your schedule allows it.

We don’t suggest the period from November to February for this trip. It will be chilly, and especially in the area near the Montserrat Mounting range it can be very cold, foggy, rainy, or snowy.

Itinerary

Day 1 Barcelona [Spain] (arrival day)

- Arrival at Barcelona Airport, private transfer to your hotel in the city center.

- Free time to rest or explore the surroundings at your own pace.


Accommodation: Hostal Grau or similar
Included meals: None

Day 2 Barcelona

- Guided tour of Gracia district in the morning. Stroll through Barcelona's hidden gem and discover its artistic talents.

- Urban art workshop in El Raval in the afternoon, tour through the street-art expressions of the city. In the end, there is a workshop where you can do your own graffiti in a souvenir to take home with you.


Accommodation: Hostal Grau or similar
Included meals: Breakfast

Day 3 Moianés (Barcelona)

- Private transfer to the county of El Moianés.

- Horse training experience in a beautiful masia, where you will learn about the principle of natural dressage.

- Transfer to Bages County.

- Visit the Mon San Benet monastery on your own.


Accommodation: Hotel Mon San Benet or similar
Included meals: Breakfast

Day 4 Bages (Barcelona)

- Hot air balloon flight over Bages and Montserrat.

- Wine tasting and lunch in a beautiful winery producing Pla de Bages designation of origin.


Accommodation: Hotel Mon San Benet or similar
Included meals: Breakfast, Lunch

Day 5 Barcelona

- Visit on your own two of the main works of Antoni Gaudì: Sagrada Familia and Park Güell.

- Tapas dinner in a traditional winery.


Accommodation: Hostal Grau or similar
Included meals: Breakfast, Dinner

Day 6 Deltebre

- Train ride to Tarragona and private transfer to Deltebre, the capital city of the Ebro Delta.

- Enjoy a combined kayak and bicycle tour of the Ebro Delta Natural Park.

- Experience a night in a traditional barraca (hut).


Accommodation: Barraca Vilbor or similar
Included meals: Breakfast

Day 7 Barcelona

- Return to Barcelona.

- Sunset sailing experience along Barcelona’s coastline.


Accommodation: Hostal Grau or similar
Included meals: Breakfast

Day 8 Barcelona (Departure day)

- At the needed time, a private transfer will take you to the airport for your flight home.

Route Map

Inclusions & Exclusions

  • 6 nights in double rooms

  • 1 night in a traditional barraca (hut)

  • Breakfast always included

  • 1 lunch and wine tasting in a winery

  • 1 tapas dinner in a winery in Barcelona

  • Private transfer to and from Barcelona Airport

  • Round-trip train tickets between Barcelona and Tarragona

  • Private transfers on day trips and activities

  • Guided tour in Gracia

  • Visit and workshop in El Raval

  • Entrance tickets Mon San Benet Monastery

  • Entrance tickets to Sagrada Familia

  • Entrance tickets to Park Güell

  • Activities as mentioned in the program: horse training experience, wine tasting in Bages, kayak and bicycle tour, sunset sailing experience

  • Our assistance during the trip

  • Meals and beverages not mentioned in the program.

  • International flights

  • Transport not mentioned in the program

  • Tips

  • Personal expenses

  • Travel Insurance

  • Cancellation insurance

Sustainability

We are a travel agency specializing in sustainable tourism and ecotourism in Spain. We offer authentic travel experiences in all regions of the country and activities of all kinds. Our goal is to design tailor-made travel itineraries that put on the spotlight our varied cultural and natural heritage, connecting travelers with local realities, but also with unknown destinations and with our carefully selected local hosts that work towards creating a better industry.

Environmental Initiatives
We will use public transport (trains) when possible. We advise our travelers not to use single-use plastic items. We are sure that animals are treated ethically. For example, the horse training experience is based on the principles of natural dressage, Indian dressage, or emotional dressage. These animals live in a semi-freedom regime, they live in a community (herd), they search for food and water, and they have space to run. All this promotes the mental and emotional health of the animal and it will no longer be necessary to use whips, bits, muzzles, horseshoes, threats, shouts, or blows in order to work together.

Sociocultural Initiatives
For this trip we rely on local providers, they are mostly little, local, and family-run businesses. The entire area around Barcelona is trying to come to light as a tourist destination, highlighting that Barcelona has much more to offer. Therefore, we will help them to make their comarcas known to an international audience. Moreover, this trip helps deseasonalize and shift tourists from Barcelona to surrounding areas, as we know how hard the city suffers from mass tourism.

Travelers will be in constant contact with local people. We will rely on guides of the area, who knows perfectly the places that will be visited. They will meet local producers. In rural areas, they will get in contact with local people living there.

Health & Safety

Be sure you have traveler's insurance.

FAQs

What does the Physical Rating of "Very Easy" mean?

It means that physical preparation is not required.

What are the hotels of the trip like?

The accommodations depend on what the area offers, and for this trip, we selected nice 3-star hotels, an eco-boutique hostel, a rural house (Barraca), and a 4-star hotel.

Can I get around on my own, if I don't speak Spanish?

Of course, since tourism is an important industry for the country, you'll find that locals speak English at all major hotels and most restaurants throughout the country, especially in the cities. Although, some basic Spanish could be helpful in rural areas or the countryside.

How do I get from one place to another?

This trip includes private transfers and public transport (trains) to travel from one place to another.

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